Carolyn DiPaoloThe Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association is embracing a high profile in its third year.
February was a busy month for the Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association.
The women toasted a new exhibition at the county’s history museum.
The association also organized a memorable journey to Washington, D.C., where 12 Black women were inducted to practice before the highest court of the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I don’t know of another organization that has done that,” said Sandra Powery Moses, president of the Black women lawyers association. “It was just a wonderful experience and something that we are so proud of at this point in our organization, at this time in our nation, to have had this opportunity to present this to our members. We are just on a rise right now.”
The association has embraced a high profile in its third year.
It inspired the newest exhibit at the museum in the 1916 Historic Palm Beach County Courthouse, which celebrates trail-blazing Black women judges and attorneys.
“Famous Firsts,” on the third floor of the building that houses the Richard and Pat Johnson History Museum, documents achievements including:
Sheree Davis Cunningham, the first Black woman to be a Palm Beach County Court judge and namesake of the Black women lawyers association.
Salesia V. Smith-Gordon, the first Black woman to serve on the County’s Commission on Ethics and the first Black woman to serve as its chair.
Portraits of eight women and their stories appear on the walls of the light-filled two-story courtroom that is the centerpiece of the century-old building.
Full-circle moment: Now-retired Judge Cunningham told the well-wishers at the sold-out reception for the exhibit that her judicial swearing-in ceremony in 1993 was the last to take place in that courtroom.
The exhibit helps the historical society fulfill a promise it made to county commissioners in 2003 to celebrate Black history. It presented its partnership with the Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association and the F. Malcolm Cunningham Sr. Bar Association.
“Famous Firsts” is on view through March at the museum at 300 N. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. Admission to the museum is free.
I am a co-founder, writer and editor for Stet News. I am also a former senior editor at The Palm Beach Post. For 20 years, I oversaw some of the most consequential stories published by the paper, including the “Corruption County” reporting project that led to multiple arrests of elected officials. I am a member of the Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2013. I live in West Palm Beach with my husband, Bill DiPaolo.
